Captain Rampo
by TFALokiwriter
Summary: What happened after the events of Star Legend, Space Academy's Halloween episode. And before.
1. from one planetoid to the next

The seeker was guided to a stop by the railing above. Paul was the first to exit the space craft once opening the door then the other members of blue team came out in a neatly single file line with Peepo in the lead. Members of the group began to yawn and stretch their arms showing signs of fatigue that quickly passed through the small crowd even to the commander.

"Is any of you here a doctor?" Rampo asked, unexpectedly.

The cadets and the academy commander turned toward Captain Rampo.

"I am," Tee Gar said with a grin. "I will be right out with you."

"Okay," Chris said. "It is pretty late. Time to retire for the night."

"I am a feeling a little-" Laura yawned. "Drained myself."

"With the adventure that we have gone through," Gampu said. "It is reasonable to be allowed that. Class dismissed."

"Commander, what about the boundary marker mission?" Chris asked. "That is a top priority mission."

"Red team 2 will perform that task of overnight," Gampu said. "You have been through enough fright, my dear cadets."

"Sounds okay by me," Paul said.

"I am not even tired," Loki complained.

"We have chocolate pie and milk at the store as a bed time treat available," Adrian said. "Only if you go to bed afterwards."

"Never mind, I am tired," Loki said.

"Peepo is too!" Peepo said.

The group laughed then dispersed from the shuttle bay. Tee Gar and Rampo walked side by side through the hallway as Gampu walked on ahead of them making his return to Academy control. Rampo looked around the hallways taking in the cadets dressed in onesies that were oddly designed and simple to a point. The design of the ship was entirely the same even from the internal appearance.

"Is there a cure for my change?" Rampo asked. "Is it well known in the medical community to have a treatment?"

"Solar flares aren't exactly known to change DNA. Nor is radiant energy of the magnitude you described aboard your ship," Tee Gar said. "If anything when a solar flare happens, the light support systems get disrupted and engine failure really makes it nasty." He put his hands on his hip, ecstatically, acting bright when speaking. "Power failure makes it a life or death situation."

"So I am a first, Doctor?" Rampo asked.

"It seems that way," Tee Gar said. "If I can get a blood sample then I can see what I can do about that aging problem and see if any aid can be applied."

"Ah, thank you," Rampo said. "I like to go there."

"Follow me, Captain." Tee Gar said.


	2. To sick bay Rampo goes

The stroll through the academy's hallways were uneventful but it were peaceful and busy. Just as it had been aboard his starship. Many of the internal design plans were identical in every way with the florescent lights, the panels peeking out of the wall and the floor paneling. It became apparent by each passing second that the breed of starship and making carried on sixteen hundred years after his decision to remain in the Alderan Triangle. It was strange to be passed by a person. Another living person and being able to see even more people down the corridor.

The bright lighting in the corridor made it to a point highlighting all of the figures and material unlike the dark green and light green shades that varied from deck to deck aboard the ship. Sick bay was the same as it was aboard his ship in the size for the exception of bookshelves littered in medical tools and medicine waiting to be used. It wasn't a two piece room that had a waiting room and the other room being the examination room with a door in the way between them. It was strange not to spot a nurse or two performing a supply check. He looked around the room quite puzzled unfamiliar to the brightness making everything visible just the way it was before the green had taken over.

"Where are the nurses?" Rampo asked.

"Taking care of other patients," Tee Gar said as he came to a stop by the side of the upwards facing table like bed then linked his hands behind his back shifting toward Rampo. "This is just one of many rooms."

"Many?" Rampo asked.

"Yes, sir," Tee Gar said.

"We had one room and that was it," Rampo observed with a whistle.

"Sounds horrible," Tee Gar said.

"For the traffic congestion that my chief of medicine had to deal with, it was, or so she claimed," Rampo said. "So very simple around here."

"Please, lay here," Tee Gar gestured toward the rest bed.

The captain came to the side of the contraption.

"What is that?" Rampo's eyes scanned it from top to bottom.

"A resting bed," Tee Gar said.

Rampo's eyes shifted from the bed toward the younger man in confusion.

"Why do you need a full on bed when the more convenient bed is . . ." He trailed off, unable to finish his comment, looking around the room for the exact bed that he was mentioning. And found a profound lack in the specific furniture to point toward then lowered his hand down to his side quite slowly yet meekly.

"What did the resting beds of your time look like?" Tee Gar asked. "Before you had to leave it behind."

"It was a curved table that you had to step on to not into," Rampo said. "Not exactly comfortable to rest on."

"And how comfortable is this?" Tee Gar asked, raising his brows, yet curiously.

"I will give it a try," Rampo said. "Not promising a rave review."

"Don't anticipate that at all, Captain." Tee Gar said.

Soon as Rampo's back hit the surface of the resting bed, the tension in his muscles relaxed and his eyes closed immediately. Tee Gar chuckled shaking his head then took out the med kit from the table, unclicked it, then took out the needle from the box. He rolled the man's sleeve up then injected the machine into his arm and bide his time waiting for the blood to seep right in with a smile.


	3. A morning with Fate

_"Captain Rampo, I like a word,"  
_

_"Yes, Doctor Yamu?" Rampo asked, coming to the younger woman's side. "Any last requests you have in mind?"_

_"Just one," Yamu said. "A question."_

_"One question is all I can afford," Rampo said. _

_"Are you coming down with us?" Yamu asked. _

_"Las," Rampo shook his head. "the ship always must be manned by her crew."_

_"And we are passengers," Yamu said. _

_"Yes," Rampo nodded. _

_"Don't you count as one?" Yamu asked. _

_"I was assigned to this starship not bound for this planet," Rampo pointed out. "I have spent a entire career, a lifetime, among the stars."_

_"Unlike I who applied for colonization permission for the planet," Yamu said._

_"Yes, doctor," Rampo said. _

_"It is not going to be the same without our Scottish Captain down there," Yamu said. _

_"I will be leaving in a few minutes once sure everyone has left," Rampo said. "Namely you."_

_"Come on, come down with us, the ship will remain on the course in orbit around this planet," Yamu said. _

_"I like to do that, lassie." Rampo said. "But my duty is to the ship and the ship and I do not part ways until I have been given permission to stay on the planet,"_

_"Captain," Yamu started with renewed determination. "I will make sure that we come back with the finest wine and see to it that we have a party for the man responsible for getting its newest colonists to the planet,"_

_"So thoughtful of you," Rampo said, touched. "I will be waiting for your return on the bridge. Your shuttle is the last one that has to go down and come back. You have to stay there for a entire twenty-four hours," Rampo shook his finger. "I may be fifty but I am not that eager for company breaking the rules as I was before. I will wait those hours," he lowered his finger down. "Nothing more."_

_"You will personally send the shuttles down there on autopilot for us?" Yamu raised her thin eyebrows._

_"Yes, las," Rampo said. _

_"I look forward to that," Yamu held her hand out. "See you later, Captain Rampo."_

_Rampo shook the younger woman's hand then__ plucked a small kiss on to her hand. _

_"And find yourself a fancy person to spend your beauty years down there," he looked up toward her with a charming smile. "Captain's orders."_

_"Find yourself some you time, captain," Yamu said. "That must go over duty."_

_"Never." Rampo gently let go of her smaller hand. "I will see you tomorrow, Doctor Yamu."_

_Yamu smiled then went into the shuttle craft then __waved as the door closed while he waved back in return. __Rampo watched the shuttle depart out of the shuttle craft with a smile then linked his hands behind his back looking around the empty shuttle port. No more children, animals, teenagers, passenger cargo, just the bare necessities to last him for a long time aboard the ship consisting of rations. It was going to take a equally long time to return back to Leevee Prime. His shoulders lowered with a smile of content at a job well done escorting the colonists down to Leevee Three then whistled turning away and walked out of the shuttle port._

_He walked through the empty hallways, relieved, at the familiarity of silence and lack of people filling it. It was a successful mission bringing them to Leevee three. The second colony that had been established in a matter of a century with no small feat with the efforts of the entire space industry and the people themselves pouring in their money into it for the sole desire of living in different condition from the one they had existed on. The orange and white doors automatically opened before him to the bridge of the ship then came to the front window and watched from the large window as the shuttle craft vanished out of sight. _

_"Job well done, Captain Rampo," Rampo said, nodding to himself, then slipped out his pocket watch from his breast pocket hidden underneath the partially buttoned up jacket. "With time to spare to myself." _

_Rampo clicked the old grandfather's watch close with a click then put it back inside. _

_"The sun is always so beautiful to look at," Rampo said. "Views like these," he shook his head. "Makes going into space all the more worth it."_

_Rampo stood there absorbing in the silence with a smile for several minutes until something seemed off about the sun. The sun grew more radiant than before. Larger, in fact, then a enormous solar flare flung out of the sun. His eyes momentarily widened then he set down to work avoiding the initial solar flare scooting the ship out of the firing range. He relaxed, the ship closer than before to Leevee Three, lowering his head. Very close to the planet to the point it was hovering within the clouds covering a vast distances of miles on the surface. _

_His attention was jerked out of the moment of relief with the ship being twirled in circles. He crashed in the corner of the room pinned by gravity. He could see blue streaks of electricity flying before his eyes within the atmosphere and clouds that were moving rapidly from the movement. A magnetic storm had drawn the starship in. __The magnetic storms flung the starship away from the planet, tossing and turning it, in the vastness of space. The force of gravity relaxed on him and the ship floated aimlessly. _

_The sickening feeling peeled away his figure. He flung himself forward grasping on to the shelf as the floor bound shelf remained firmly in place against the wall near the entrance way of the bridge. His stomach twisted and turned in response to the unsettling seas action. He had to be there when the ship fell out of the magnetic storm and soon enough return for the passengers or for any survivors that had to be rescued. _

_"I am coming, lassie!" Rampo said. _

_Doctor Yamu! _

_"Hang on!"_

_The colonists!  
_

_"'tain is coming!"_

_All those people he had been responsible for! _

_"No one is going to die on my watch,"_

_He looked out toward the window seeing signs of a familiar route that could lead him back within the next five hours. _

_"No one!"_

_He set in the course. Then Rampo saw a dark patch of space. The Alderan triangle laid ahead of him. No wonder it was familiar. It was a highly risky route that all Starship fairing captains had been taught not to take unless they were desperate or in a state of war that meant it had to be done for the good of passengers, all of whom scattered about and sent out of the ship in shuttles before the deadly mission went out. Lives were at stake. The sooner that he got to the planet the more likely there will be long term survivors on the planet to keep the colony afloat. It was a high risk of going out into there. Taking the chance of certain death if not for reaching out a hand for other people.  
_

_The ship flew into the Alderan triangle. It was a tense few seconds, bracing on to the console, hoping against chance. It was a old Starship captain's sailing tale. A old one that was considered nothing more of fantasy by more of his well known comrades regarding the presence of it and its mere existence. Despite that, a deep unsettling fear still lingered over it, those who went in to de-spell those fears never returned. Reasonable explanations regarding their disappearances quieted the fears and routes were rerouted from the area after it became known. A monster was born and it was being allowed to exist. _

_ Suddenly, the ship lost powered from deck to deck. He moved toward the console at the back then set in the emergency fuel generator. He paused then looked around as light returned then he set in the strongest shielding for the ship securing several decks at a time for himself. Rampo checked for how much power that he had in the ship then returned toward the secondary system console checking on the status of the decks. _

_The recycled nucleonic systems proved to remain working as they always did in the past. A lifeform existed in the upper decks in three of the colonists's old rooms. He stood at the console looking down upon it staring at the information as the knowledge sunk in. If he left the triangle then so did the beast. He raised his head up then looked toward the window as it occurred to him with conviction. Rampo wasn't going to see another sun in his lifetime until that creature did not exist. The only light that he would see for a very long time was going to be artificial light. The screen was pitch black and it was hard to find a star.  
_


	4. His eyes opened to

"Good morning, Captain," Tee Gar was the first face that the captain's aged eyes opened to.

"Urgh. . ." Rampo then jumped out of the chair and the blanket covering him fell on to the floor. "Good lord!"

"So we had our top geneticist look at your cells," Tee Gar said. The captain picked up the blanket from the ground then placed the blanket on the bed then found the straps hooked into the bed on the sides. "We can do some cell therapy but it will have to take awhile for your DNA just to go back to normal."

"How long?" Rampo asked.

"Four weeks," Tee Gar said. "And a weekend."

Four weeks, four weeks, four weeks sounded long and empty. The thought was enlightening and hopeful. One that he had been the fire of for the last sixteen hundred years all alone in space in the triangle trying to spare others of the fate that had fallen upon others that he watched be consumed alive by the creature. Ships that were consumed by its desire for energy. Small hapless ships that became devoid of life in a matter of minutes. The larger ones took painfully longer to go. It was a simple creature that was ruthless in its operation and methodical. A creature that couldn't be allowed to stay not one moment further.

It was a force that summoned valor, determination, and making do with his equipment that he hadn't done before on a mission. A mission that had taught him it was unbeatable but all that could be done was to delay the inevitable. A duty that was a higher calling from the heavens. And the last piece which was part of his self imposed exiled from civilization was going to be taken away. He had no creature to fight against. He could live a normal live, establish a social group, explore, and enjoy the finer parts of life that he had been lacking in. He looked aside looking back at the single thought. The single journey of saving others when he could not save himself to guiding himself unknowingly to the end of the tunnel with light pouring out and saving himself.

"Are you okay, Captain?" Tee Gar asked.

Rampo leaned against the counter of the table across from the bed.

"Will I turn to dust?" Rampo said. "Will it be painful catching up? Just being a mortal again?"

"You won't age rapidly during the cell therapy to catch up to how long you have been living," Tee Gar said. "But, you will find the common effects of aging most undesirable but we can remedy that with the medication we have now to treat them."

"I will just age the way I did before. . ." Rampo said. "Aging. Naturally. Slowly as a mortal."

"And you won't be alone for the rest of your life," Tee Gar said.

"Your commanding officer," Rampo said. "Does he need gene therapy? I heard he had a situation like mine."

"He doesn't have immortality as bad as you do, Captain Rampo," Tee Gar said. "With his increased life span, his currant age, last physical. He will die of natural causes in the next two to three hundred years."

"How old is he?" Rampo said.

"Over three hundred," Tee Gar said.

"He looks old for a man who has lived three hundred years," Rampo said.

"The commander became immortal at a very late age," Tee Gar said as the door to the med room opened then his attention shifted toward the new comer and a smile spread on his face. "Speaking of who!"

"Captain Rampo," Gampu regarded him then his aged blue eyes shifted toward the doctor. "Tee Gar. I see that our VIP is awake."

"And healthy as a artificial sun," Tee Gar said. "We were discussing becoming mortal again."

"I want it," Rampo said. "I like to have the full living experience."

"All the pain, the misery, the sorrow?" Gampu said.

"You will find that some relief would make it more comfortable after living without hindrances for so long," Tee Gar added.

"I have lived without a uncomfortable sign of aging for a thousand years," Rampo said. "It is a welcoming hindrance."

"May we discuss, Captain Rampo?" Gampu asked.

"I haven't ironed out the details of my treatment," Rampo mentioned glancing toward the younger man.

"We can arrange the beginning of the cell therapy after you get settled in and decide to have its done here later," Tee Gar said.

"Sure," Rampo said.

Rampo and Gampu exited the exam room side by side. They walked until they were in a sparsely occupied corridor that had a slim traffic of people. He took in notice how the women wore pants and small versions of dresses that ended above their knees instead of below their ankles. A sharp contrast to the colorful dresses that were nicely designed, decorated, with creative stitching that gave the dresses their folds and appealing design. All of the uniforms were primarily white with secondary theme of blue and shirts lacking neck collars which exposed their chests. On Leevee Prime it was considered indecent for any part of a woman's chest being exposed. Gampu stopped then shifted toward the captain with his hands linked behind his back.

"I have quarters for you arranged in the academy, Captain Rampo," Gampu said. "With a very special view."

"Special?" His graying eye brows raised.

"Very," Gampu nodded.

"Just how special is it?" Rampo's brows furrowed.

"You lived with a curtain blocking your window for the last thousand years," Gampu said. "You have a quarters without one."

"Do you have a observation room?" Rampo asked.

"Yes, Captain," Gampu said. "All the stars you can see once we leave the triangle."

"It will be strange to see the stars," Rampo said. "What planet are you from?"

"Earth,"

"Did you cross paths with my people?"

"After the vegan war,"

"A thousand years and they are still thriving! Good! Must be Gods compared to this technology," he gestured toward his wrist toward the support badge then looked down spotting it was gone. "You carry spares of these at all times?"

"At all times since our last recent glitch with them," Gampu said. "First time in ages that it has happened but the cracks are just showing that our designers need to find a better way of making a support badge," he grimaced at his own comment. "Still working on it. But the glitches are extremely rare. To us, with that technology you have, you are very advanced."

"Pillaging from the shuttles," Rampo said, lowering his gaze, quite ashamed."Supposed to be the best, a representative of my species, out there and I was a grave robber."

"Your people were the ones who helped us establish the technology needed to out fit this academy during the construction," Gampu said. "They did some dirty tricks trying to sabotage Earth's attempts at making their own Campus Starship. Stole, lied, sabotaged," Rampo became crest fallen as Gampu reached his hand out then put his hand on the older man's trembling hand. Rampo's hands became steadied as Gampu's left hand took the other free hand and held the captain's hands in a reassuring way. "You were a grave robber of necessity with pure intentions."

"How did Earth come to forgive them?" Rampo asked.

"It was a small misunderstanding between our governments, workers, xeno groups," Gampu replied as he withdrew his hands. "People did _did_ get hurt from the misgivings."

"Were there any serious repercussions?" Rampo asked.

"Yes. Many. A lot of them but our ship's main purpose of unity, peace, and exploration kept the construction work running," Gampu said. "No harm, no foul."

"Politically there were," Rampo said.

"And in the military," Gampu said. "The court martial trials were brutal as were the impeachments."

"Commander," Rampo said. "How can I thank you for saving my life and the galaxy's existence?"

"Taking it one day at a time to become reacquainted to the state of the galaxy," Gampu said. "We have a re-education course that you can take that covers _all_ of the history you have missed. If you like."

"Can I hug you?" Rampo asked.

"You may," Gampu said.

Rampo hugged Gampu. It was a well earned hug that was seen by Chris and Laura. Chris grew a broad grin and Laura smiled then they exchanged a glance. They backed out of the corridor until they were out of sight and walked the other way back down the hallway. Rampo was the first to back off from the hug.

"Thank you," Rampo said.

"You are very welcome, Captain," Gampu said.

"Now, care to direct me to my quarters?" Rampo grasped on to his lapels.

"Right this way," Gampu gestured ahead then began walking on ahead and Rampo followed him on. "your new civilian clothes are waiting right in there for you."

"New clothes, new era," Rampo said, walking alongside Gampu. "It will be nice to have new clothing on asides to this uniform."


	5. the green demon

_The green demon had aboard the starship through the hangar bay door after sapping out the energy and had retreated into the cabins that had small crevices leading into them. It was a demon that lacked a name. Alderan Demon didn't sound right. It reminded him of a creature back on Levee Prime that sucked blood from its victims then left them for dead after consuming them. To his very eyes, as the ways waned on, he noticed junk floating in the vastness of space highlighted by his floodlights when passing by. Every so often the remains of ships that entered the triangle long ago swept on by the ship. He went down to the engineering deck outfitted with pieces of experimental equipment that central command had sent into the ship prior to her last but foremost important mission._

_He packed up his articles of clothing then took them down to the small bridge. He stared at the room that was to become his battle headquarters decorated from head to toe with gear. Gear that he would become keenly familiar to in adapting and modifying. If it had been around for so long then this was going to be difficult but not impossible. He had possibilities all to his domain. All of them were available to formulate and attempt. A task that Rampo had been given task to handle and execute as he saw fit. The best way to kill a enemy combatant was to starve them if their weapon of choice was to eat. It was the first idea that struck him in many days. _

_The weaker it would be then the better off defeating the creature would be on his side of the field. How strong it was, Rampo didn't know. He wasn't quite sure of it. Rampo was certain that it was not strong enough to overtake his shields. Not quite yet, as of this moment, not strong enough to pierce through the shields. It was a strong but large child that banged against his shields only to come down to no response. And it threw fits that made his ship tremble from time to time. Rampo strolled into the med bay and began retrieving the necessary equipment as a idea formed in his mind regarding the people that he was sparing of a nasty fate. _

_A hero connected to the place of death and horror? No, it was unacceptable legacy. He would be viewed as a God killer. A God killer that he was not. He would become a giant in history. A mythical being spoken of with pride and awe at his awesome power. If he were able to defeat the creature then it would be a ordinary task for a infestation. That would be it. That was it in its entirety. A unwanted space infestation. He was a man made of flesh and powerless if not for the instruments around him that provided strength against the beast. To have saved lives and not have been known of it was reward enough. _

_The junk that he had seen by the passing hours belonged to abandoned or lifeless spacecrafts which had crashed among each other long before his arrival appeared often enough to be familiar to. The darkness against the window was never ending. The forcefields covered the lens of the flood lights keeping it shining in a lively way standing out against the dark. A lone starship floating in space. Built to be a housing complex with solar domes that acted as a recreation bay during the long flights to and from their intended planet to colonize. A place that turned into the last and next best hope for preserving all the lives in the galaxy. While time passed outside the triangle with its dramas, glories, discoveries, losses, and changes, he would be engaged for the next year with the green vapor._

_"Carrier class to Starship,"_

_He pressed a couple of buttons, slipped on the make shift mask then stepped back, getting it set up._

_"Hello?"_

_A voice came over the intercomn._

_"Hello?" the young man's voice repeated. _

_He turned from the main console in the mist of contemplating his first trap with the creature._

_"Hello? Anyone there? Halum? We got the shipment. We need you to tow us out of here. The shipment is in the cargo bay."_

_Halum, his mind searched for a reason why that name was familiar. His mind jumped to the last barkeep that he had been at. A scuffle had happened between Halum and a galactic law enforcement officer over a matter that was considered highly illegal. He searched for the inner dramatic persona inside of him then began to set up a recording. He connected the machine to the console then began to approach the console and adjusted the audio on the console. He was only going to do it once. Just once and use the recording for as long as he could. He didn't like to be mean to people often and he wasn't about to become that person who said mean things to get what they wanted constantly._

_"Go back whence you came!"_

_He turned off the recording then put in a new one._

_"Uh, we can't!"_

_Then he turned it back on._

_"And return no more!"_

_He performed the same task._

_"I'm sorry sir, but-"_

_He abruptly put it back on._

_"Obey!"_

_He turned the machine off letting the comment hang there and replaced it with a new tape._

_"I have a shipment!"_

_The transmission was, at best, most disagreeable so he turned it back on with a new tape._

_"Go back, at once!"_

_"Listen, buddy-"_

_"This is your final warning!"_

_"Final warning?"_

_He activated the laser beam then watched as the craft twirled and struggled to come to a stop._

_"Beware! Never return! Warn your people!"_

_He watched as the calm man on the other side of the screen reacted from his booming voice with a visible terror._

_"Okay, sir, uh, sorry!" Replied the pilot. "I am leaving!"_

_"They must never enter the triangle;_**_ EVER_**_!" Rampo emphasized._

_The hailing ceased and the spacecraft floated out of the triangle leaving Rampo behind with the green demon. Rampo ceased the recording and relaxed as the moment of being mean had ended. He copied each of the audio tapes then saved them on to each of the memory generators and took off the mask then placed it aside. He was fortunate to have won the first round terrifying the lone flight operator. It was a sign that he had won the first round of the battle against it._

_"What is next, Captain Rampo?" Rampo asked himself. _

_Rampo descended down the stairs with his hands behind his back. _

_"What is the best way to remove a annoying parasite?" Rampo asked. "Ah, lead them into a trap!"_

_Rampo snapped his fingers. _

_"It is not quite organic or solid enough to catch with these hands," he unlinked his hands then studied them. "Attracting them could-" he turned away from the window facing the door as his eyes became enlarged and delight spread on his facial features making him appear to beam. "Attract them!_

_Rampo departed the small room then made his way into the engineering room. He gathered a power generator and a small freezing box then made his way for the hall. He dropped in a small battery then moved into the bridge. He turned off the shields for that specific deck then watched on the monitor the green vapor move through the room and fill the hall. _

_The green mass slipped into the container and the glass wall fell behind it. He turned the shielding on in the next moment. He watched as the lifeform reading become unexpected from what he had anticipated. The lifeform remained outside of the box and inside simultaneously. He raised the shields up and the feeding off the energy ceased yet the room was coated in a blue film that covered everything. It had merely split into two. He watched the life sign fade over several hours from his perch until it was extinguished within the small box couldn't be escaped from. The vapor remained coating the walls of the deck struggling to feed, determinedly, off the shields with little success. He sat down into the pitch black chair then looked about the room giving it some thought. _

_"A good start," Rampo said. "Green vapor 101, it can split apart." Rampo laughed. "It can split apart!" _

_He dropped his forehead into one hand as his figure shook with laughter then took off his glasses and cleaned off the steam. _


	6. shrinking rations

_Days grew longer than they were before. Before, they felt short and eventful. His rations began to shrink in size as each day passed that it became important to attempt some farming. Now, being trapped within a large starship with the very same creature, it was starting to feel uneventful with little to do. He went to the recreation bay to attempt a certain little trick. The artificial lights kicked on in the recreation bay. One that was full of park benches, lakes, and trees that ranged in height to being nothing more than small bushes. The blue sky was overshadowed by a familiar green tint to it. Rampo only smiled finding the color of the of the room was more unique than he had last seen it during the long voyage._

_The artificial light would do for the plant even the green vapor. He would have to quarantine it before serving the food up into the food pantry. It was a task that was deserving for botanists, colonists, and a small devoted team capable of planting for a group to sustain themselves. However, there was only Captain Rampo under the dome. He paced back and forth contemplating the process to handle the food. He turned off the light with a flick of a switch then exited through the corridor of the ship._

_Was growing a field of plants really worth the hassle? _

_He rubbed his chin thinking over the matter then turned from the doorway leading into the recreation bay._

I do need food,_ Rampo thought to himself,_ saving the galaxy from a energy eater comes with that_. _

_And he was starting to gain a very bad feeling that it was going to be a very long time before he came out of the triangle at all. And it wasn't going to be easy adapting to the new era that it may be outside of the walls. He returned into the dome with the material all set for colonizing the recreation bay then flipped the artificial lights back on. He stared back at the second challenge that stared back at him with the equipment in the wheelbarrow behind him._


	7. Making a home

_The plants were seeded and tended to. The humidifier withdrew water out of the air as it had been purposed to on various decks of the ship. He slip the detachable section of the device then wheeled it into the garden that was being carefully grown day by day. He assembled pots that ranged in size in the main base of operations and replaced the antiques with the empty pots waiting to be filled up. He slipped out pieces of equipment, small relics of his passengers, then sealed them inside the additional white boxes waiting for the creature's vapor to vanish before his eyes replaced by transparent air then brought them into the chamber._

_Months passed quite quickly before him once that part was settled and handled out. Rampo proceeded to try out other methods on the decks below, such as releasing radiation through the decks, then after five weeks passed, he tried every kind of available poison gas, pepper spray, draining the oxygen out of the decks, applying pesticide through every part of the ship. Only then after realizing it was entirely undefeatable, Rampo had a quiet moment to himself on the hammock sitting on the edge looking out the window. He had a long sob to himself then found a grip over himself after the weeping. _

_It became a resolve. _

_No one, lucky as he was, would be faced with his fate. _

* * *

_Rampo looked out the window then saw the fifth starship that week coming out of the unknown. Another saucer that was wandering about bumping into the unknown and whirring silently in space. He turned on the hailing system, the visual and audio, then waited for their response. What he noticed about the sheer size of the saucer was made up by its simplicity. It had a large dome center surrounded by a plate of metal surrounding it and spirals that covered the glass center dome._

_He made his way out of the power room then into the chamber located in the engineering bay and played the recording._

_"Please, spare me!" Came a terrified woman's voice over the comn._

_Most of the voices had their own character to them, some did not in lacking a accent, and some of them sounded alike. Hard to tell apart the passing voices that came through the voice machine. Time grew longer than it had been before the unsettling event had to happen to him. Before fate called upon him to make the ultimate sacrifice. It felt as if months had only passed when really it had been a matter of weeks. Incredibly long weeks. This reply was not different from all the others that had replied but the voice sounded different and distinct._

_"Spare yourself!"_

_He turned off the recording and waited for the reply then allowed the rest of the tape to run._

_"The ship has just ran out of fuel," Came a younger man's voice. "We like some help getting out of this triangle. We can't do this alone."_

_With that, Rampo ceased the replay then moved his hand to the console and enlisted the aid of the laser beam. _

_He watched the craft spin away before his eyes vanishing out of the Alderan triangle._

_It was a good day._

I can keep this up forever,_ Rampo decided. _

* * *

_It was twelve months in when another saucer came close to the triangle during one of Rampo's nightly patrols. This time, it was entirely a glass structure with support beams outlining every aspect of it including the floors to the engineering deck. His eyes absorbed in the beauty of the craft then shook his head and sped from the bridge of the ship to the other half. He waited for the response only to get the reply of a child's voice._

_"Hello?" The child asked. "Anyone there? Can anyone hear me? My ship is adrift."_

_Rampo's heart sunk then he turned off the recording and slipped on the mask, dimming the lights behind him, his uniform blending into the darkness so it was hard to see his figure. He flipped a switch then watched as a young child appeared before his eyes with dark purple skin that contrasted against the gray support beams and the black canvas spotted between each beam._

_"Wheere are your paareents," he dragged on in the booming but terrifying voice while recording the line._

_The antennas lowered as sweat came down their skin and the recording was taken off._

_"Uh, um, ah, they are taking a shower."_

_"Get them," Rampo repeated the same act._

_"I can't,"_

_"You must!" Rampo repeated his action._

_The child's shoulders slumped._

_"Listen, my parents just had a very nasty spell with the garden deck because I turned on the sprinklers and caused a flood. They are really angry at me right now so I can't tell them."_

_"You do not have a garden deck,"_

_The child puckered their lips._

_"And you're hiding yourself as a floating head,"_

_"You do not have a parent,"_

_"Yes, I do,"_

_"This is very serious! A matter of life and death! You will die a painful horrible death!"_

_"We have to take this way. It's the only way! Please, stand aside!"_

_"Do you not understand? This is your life!"_

_"There are things worse than death that frighten me."_

_"You leave me no choice!"_

_He terminated contact with the saucer then proceeded to turn on the laser beam sending the craft flying away. He returned to the screen watching the craft get distant before his eyes. He lowered his head, relieved, then sighed. What ever the child was going through could only be said as a terrible fate. By the looks of the child's face, the fate that rested out of the triangle was enough to send someone running this way. He slipped off the mask then put it back where he had found it. He returned to the screen and watched the darkness resting on ahead of him. He stood for hours at a time with the ship on a preplanned patrol._

* * *

_He watched the same craft return and fly on past him. He could only stare in horror at the craft that was piercing on by him. He could see what appeared to be groups of children packed cramped the craft on many of the decks and what appeared to be a few of their women ranging in age. Even notably some of the children were on the upper bridge staring at clenching on to the chair as the child from earlier grasped on the joy stick. His heart felt as if it had been yanked out of his chest in alarm and layers of his heart strings were slipped out._

_"_**_NOOooOO_**_!" Rampo screamed._

_Rampo turned his attention on to the spacecrafts that were coming after them that were packed and shielded by metal hull. He bolted back for the secondary room that had been make-shifted into the bridge of operations and used the laser beam to knock back the army and played the recording for the sole remaining craft that had halted on the edge of space. He went toward the window and peered out watching the craft that housed the children spotting them them becoming adrift in space. _

_He watched the craft continue on ahead of his craft. Were they going at the speed of light? He stared, bewildered, at the craft continuing to soar through the Alderan Triangle without stopping. It was remarkable that it wasn't stopping at all. He returned to the operation room and checked the sensors. It successfully went out of the Alderan Triangle in the next five minutes. Where they were headed? He wasn't quite sure. And the children were in celebration, he speculated, at making their escape as a large group. Celebrating their victory at escaping. It was almost certain that is what they did for sanctuary. He turned his attention toward the craft ahead of him then watched it go into the triangle. _

_"Oh dear," Rampo said. "You must have a death wish, laddies, lassies."_

_Rampo shook his head then turned around from the screen and folded his arms._

_"Or be very cruel enough to make children be desperate enough to go through this part of space. . . "_

_Rampo closed his eyes, took off his glasses, then pinched the bridge of his nose as the lights on the side of the ship behind him began to flicker in the strong struggle to remain on. The fight was lost as the vapor slid through the cracks, into the air vents, then into the corridors of the craft. The smoke rose up starting from the galley then raised up as a powerful wave and darkness took over the decks. Screams took over the craft as people began to flee and officers fired at the thick green fog. Their screams echoed through the ship. The craft passed by him going deeper into the darkness. He lifted his head up with a disappointed sigh and put on his glasses._

_"I warned them," Rampo said with a tsk. "What a loss. . . what a loss." _

_And a star legend became widely known that day._

* * *

_Five years went by after that. _

_Ten years went on with losses here and there_

_Twenty-three years went on. _

_Then thirty-three years. Forty-three. Fifty-six turned into sixty years. _

_Sixty became seventy, seventy-five, eighty, eighty-five, eighty-nine, ninety, ninety-five. _

_Rampo kept marching on taking pride in the ages that were stacking up behind him with little casualties on his assignment. Age was a badge of honor. Doing all that he could do in this lifetime. He watched as what few starships that did come in lose power and become adrift in a matter of minutes. The view of their crashing figurines was enough to make him turn away. What was even more relieving was watching the junk fly out of the triangle's territory as did the craft harboring the shells of life avoiding any other crafts and exiting out of the craft. _

* * *

_It was a hundred twenty years later when he finally took notice of his body not aging and his face hadn't changed since being flung into the disaster. How he hadn't quite died standing ripe at one hundred fifty-six and had not once faltered in his energy. He went into med bay and checked his DNA. After several rounds of testing, he came across his answer. A answer that made him in the power room in shock staring out the abyss searching for what had became a daily occurrence. _

_His DNA had changed, morphed, adapted to the freak occurrence that determined the rest of his future and countless other people. He was, in short, effectively immortal. Further testing said that his aging process was over. It was as if God, themselves, decided to chose him to protect those that they did not want taken by their biggest mistake since giving mortality to their children. He saw a lone shuttle lurking at the edge of the Alderan triangle then set the course so that it came nearby. Wordlessly, he made it to the shuttle bay and took the shuttle for the lone one. It strange to see one floating through space unable to move. The creature was tempted to reach out and eat it. _

_Yet, it couldn't do exact that. He came to the edge of the triangle and took a pod to the lifeless shuttle that was set in idle. He came through the doorway only to find why there was no life sighs in there. The passengers in the craft were the victims of a assassination. He parked the new rations and equipment into the box. He checked the expiration date then smiled. He took out all the water from the ship setting them into jugs. The jugs were put into the shuttle stacked top of the food rations. Pitying the fallen, Rampo sent the ghost shuttle away from his general space for a final maiden voyage and saluted the departing figure. The sombere moment lifted him out of the stunned feeling and into a different trail of thought. _

_"I need to set a post humorous program for the event of my death," _

_Rampo thought to himself turning away from the window._

_"A final voyage that maybe it can continue on its own with the equipment I have. Making a artificial intelligence program," _

_he looked aside quite puzzled then shrugged himself off._

_"Won't need to think about it really hard right now. Haven't gotten a cold in a hundred years!"_

* * *

_Rampo got sick that following week. _

_The next lifeless shuttle that he went into, months later, he snatched cases of tissue among the rations and new medicine._

* * *

_"Hmm, what does this do?" Rampo asked, looking down upon the large machine that he had scuttled off the previous shuttle that held it._

_Rampo vanished in the next second. _

_"Ah!" Rampo said, gleeful. "Incredible!"_

_In a beep, Rampo reappeared, grinning from ear to ear. _

_"This should be really useful," Rampo said. "I don't know how but it will."_

* * *

_Eventually, as time went on, having a view of the pitch black window of his sector of space became too much for him. Five hundred years into the quest to warn others. It had to have been five hundred years into his quest to warn those travelers and help them. Everyone that he cared about deeply was dead. And he was the only one of his people alive. The last piece of his civilization thriving and unharmed from the wrath of time. He looked down toward his trembling hands seeing how unchanged they were, still covered in lines, but none that were recent had happened. _

_He gathered the blankets from med bay and stitched them up into two long curtains including two long poles that had once been part of the second stasis tube reserved for medical emergencies. He looked at it with regret but it had to be done. In the event that all was lost and his fight to spare others of a fate that had befallen the first ship that he had faced, he was certain of using it. _

_This was a freezing tube that could be saved, a sufficient stasis tube that wasn't powered by power or energy. It was unique in the regards but it was one of hope. The only hope that anyone could have in the event that it ran out of energy and began to starve to death. The last remainder of life, the last shard of it, to tell the story of how it happened. It was powered by feelings radiating from the person that it held. He drilled the bars into the sides of the view screen then hooked the curtains in and slipped them on to the wall._

Can I keep this up forever? _Was a lone thought._

_His confidence and sense of duty replied,_ Yes. Yes. Yes, you can.


	8. the invisible cloak

_Two young men were seated at a table with a large chart that was falling over the edges of the rounded fixture. Their eyes were focused on the parts that outlined various star systems of the galaxy and the last known where abouts of meteorites, asteroids, freely flying planets, all labeled with their unique names that were dictated by several small boxes beneath them that had texture to them similar to braille._

_"Sochan, do you think this is a good idea?"_

_"I believe it is a excellent idea, my friend," Sochan looked up toward his colleague NacQ._

_"It has been a thousand years since anyone went into the Alderan triangle and came out," NacQ said. "Can't be a multi-generation crime operation. Crafts that went in there held nothing of value."_

_"Like gone in?" Sochan asked._

_"And seen everything," NacQ said._

_"What is everything?" Sochan asked._

_"I heard from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend that it is nothingness," NacQ said._

_"Nothingness?" Sochan's brows rose up._

_"Nothingness," NacQ said._

_"Now," Sochan stood up to his feet. "we have to check that place out."_

_"You sure that you want to do that?" NacQ asked._

_"We are explorers, we are the authority, we are the galactic space patrol officers, we can do whatever we like!" Sochan rolled the paper up beaming with optimism._

_"Oh, I nearly forgot about that," NacQ said then frowned. "But we will be asked why we went there."_

_"All we can say is that we had some leads of criminal misdoing and forge it for them," Sochan said. "Works every time. With names that could possibly not exist."_

_"Okay then," NacQ relaxed then got up from the table._

_"When would you like to go?" Sochan asked._

_"It will take awhile and I do have days off that I haven't taken off so right now would be a wonderful time as ever," NacQ said._

_"So do I!" Sochan said._

_"Good, let's go!" NacQ said._

* * *

_Rampo stared out into the open sliding aside the curtains spotting a lone starship at the edge of the triangle._

_ He looked on with curiosity then draped it aside. _

_The creature was getting stronger every day. _

_Every day that ticked by was a day that showed him it was in the process of preparing to grow in size. _

_It grew in size with each ship that passed through and every soul that was consumed._

_ It could have easily been a massive beast that feast on flesh instead of energy._

_Rampo imagined the beast of green vapor was one that couldn't be defined in appearances. That it was a fuzzball in appearances filling all of the space that it rested in like a cat except every part of the cat was its own microorganisim and needed to be fed not just the one mouth. It was spiked with a mouth on each spike and it was all a translucent green foggy outlook. If it weren't the truth, that the creature was a absorber, that every piece was a mouth, he would have been fine with the analogy. But now, he wasn't quite fine with it at all. In fact, it was the most disturbing analogy that he had ever been fortunate to make._

* * *

_Rampo docked the pod with the shuttle then pressed the button to his cloak and he was unable to be seen. he pressed a button to his craft. He searched from side to side then clicked out a large quality of rations out of the ship then the door closed behind him._

_The false walls that had been silent suddenly fell and the craft was thrust away from the dark triangle._

_The young men shrieked as their bodies smacked all over the craft and tried to keep themselves in one position._

_"Oh supernova!" NacQ shouted._

_"I will get the ship to a space route!" Sochan shrieked. _

_"We are never going to talk about this!" NacQ shrieked. "NEVER!"_

_"I agree!" Sochan flung himself into the chair joining his friend. _

_"A ghost posesses that ship!" NacQ declared. _

_"No one is ever going to believe us!" Sochan shouted. _

_"Uh huh!" NacQ said. _

_"This was the worst idea that we **HAD**!" Sochan announced. _

_"It was!"_


	9. freezing the door

_Rampo played the tapes once more. _

_"Please, spare us! Spare us!" The voice of a older man cried, whining, pleading, as the captain rolled his eyes as he repeated himself. "We are lost travelers! Trying to get home! I am only on night shift! I never meant to intrude on your territory, my dear sir!"  
_

_Rampo pressed a button, changing the tape, the specified for this type of communications to those pleading to be spared._

_Just in the event they couldn't warn their people. _

_Which proved to be often for those in positions unable to return home for reasons. _

_"You shall be spared. Just this once." the recording played. "I haven ridden you of the trouble before you. Prove that my act of heroism was not all for nothing."  
_

_"Ah, thank you." the older man sighed in relief from the view screen and his bright blue eyes lost the fear then he grinned back. "We are in your debt." then nodded back toward the masked image. "And so we shall."_

_And watched as the lone saucer went away once the energy beam stuck it sending it flying further into the night where it had came. _

_The headache that he had gotten from the long cries of desperation from the older man went away. _

_He could only pity the colonists with him aboard. _

* * *

_"Saucers, again." Rampo said. "This must be some massive planet wide evacuation event."_

_There had to be millions of spacecrafts hurtling through space passing by the triangle according to his long range sensors._

_"Ten million saucers," Rampo said. "Ten million people."_

_His eyes were wide as saucers watching the event using a close up setting on the screen watching them in different and makes travel through space. It had been three hundred five years since he had first gone into a lone shuttle craft using his cloak device. Then progressively found other people doing the same task as the shuttle before trying to trap him, force a conversation, only getting sometimes a 'Thank you for your service' once sparing a few people of flying space junk and were stranded as he walked out._

_"What if one of them comes?" Rampo asked himself. "Ten million poor souls consumed alive because they escaped their ship before it was eaten alive and tried to find a way of saving themselves?"_

_Rampo straightened himself._

_"It will be fine."_

_Rampo nodded to himself._

_"They got all these precautions taken care of. Wouldn't venture near a deadly place such as this."_

_He paused._

_"Would they?" Rampo asked himself then grew determined. "Only one can tolerate the hell this beast can do. Just one."_

_Rampo picked up the liquid nitrogen gun and made it in a rush to the other half of the ship that lead to the hangar bay._

_"Sorry, folks." Rampo said then gunned down the doorway. "So, I do have a hidden doorway to the recreation bay." he tapped on his chin. "I will be fine."_

_Rampo smiled then turned away returning to the power room then put the liquid nitrogen gun away._

_Rampo looked on toward the scene of awe and beauty, watching a entire civilization, heading to solar systems closest to the planet that called itself Earth._

_He watched as a new civilization entered the stage of the stars and the affairs of space on the galactic council._

_"So young, so hopeful, so optimistic for a civilization." Rampo said. "Let's hope they keep that, old girl."_

_Rampo smiled then patted on the wall looking up toward the craft._

_"And one day, we'll see them."_


	10. Happy endings

Time felt kinder to Rampo. He felt it passing for the first time in ages and that it had paused for a time that he could exist and live through, even be part of, not be stepping back and being in shadows seeing it happen.

For the first time in over a century there was a certain weight off his chest and his shoulders. He walked through the corridor knowing that he wasn't alone while rehashing about history he had watched alongside eager and interested cadets. Sometimes, he were surrounded by them.

His mood lightened as he picked up history and ran through it checking on the important events that he had missed out and events that he had personally watched happen with further context behind the desperate acts, acts of cruelty, acts of courage, and acts of dumb, and acts of curiosity into his little triangle that didn't make up for the shuttles that he had found and pillaged.

His bones ached with age and his body hadn't aged quickly as he had anticipated. It was aging slowly, just the way it was as a mortal, and he could feel the ticking of time against him for the first time in a long time after several weeks of medical therapy to undo what the solar flare had done to him.

He cried in sick bay and accepted the hug that was offered by the cadet on shift. And he didn't feel so alone holding on to someone real as he was giving a nice and warm fulfilling hug. It felt good to cry. Better than his last cry after realizing the vapor was going to absorb the entire universe. This cry was a sign of healing, renewal, and hope for him. Not of despair.

Time became a familiar friend.

Someone who had entered his life once more.

Like a old friend and decided to let him be part of it's life.

* * *

"Commander." Rampo greeted the command once stepping out of his cabin.

The commander nodded once paused in his tracks.

"Captain." Gampu greeted.

"Giving me a farewell walk?" Rampo asked.

"No, I just thought . . ." Gampu couldn't finish himself.

"Thought what?" Rampo raised a brow as he started to walk on and Gampu joined his side.

"You could do with some company." Gampu said.

"Commander, how can I ever repay you for that idea?" Rampo asked. "For a idea that I never thought of."

"By enjoying the galaxy you have sough to protect for so long, Captain."

Rampo stopped then cupped his hands together and lowered them down then faced his fingers toward Gampu.

"Laddie," Rampo said. "I got to spend a entire century up there." He pointed toward the wall. "All alone."

"Not entirely alone," Gampu replied as he resumed to walk. "You did listen to the calls."

"Yes, course I did." Rampo said. "And if there is anythin' I can do in this lifetime for you then I will _do_ it."

"I am certain you will."

"I get a feelin' that you will need help one day," Rampo said pointed back at the commander. "I will be willing to help." He put his hand on his shoulder. "Any day. Need to vent to someone about being immortal? My address is always open."

"I will take you up on that offer, dear captain." Gampu said, appreciatively.

"Good!" Rampo took his hand off Gampu's shoulder.

"Just be sure that you _want_ that kind of mail," Gampu warned.

"I am sure! From one former immortal to another, I know how it feels to be alone, to feel like the sun, unable to die, unable to tell time has passed if not for the most obvious signs that it has."

"Such as people mentioning it."

"Uh huh."

"This way."

Rampo followed the commander through the corridor passing by cadets. He reflected over the places that the cadets had taken him during the last four weeks and become familiar to being on a planet. To being free of a deadly creature that he alone could defeat. And he didn't feel as trapped as he used to be within the academy. Now, it was just another ship to him. It was quite the experience.

And it was quite the experience getting to meet someone like him. He looked toward the commander and wondered to himself, could he be related to one of the passengers that he rescued? He shook the thought off his mind. It was a thought that deserved no recognition nor any of his time considering it. He came to the doorway of the place that meant a uncertain future. He looked toward the commander who smiled back at him and nodded then waved his hand in front of the panel.

Rampo turned his attention off the commander then stopped and stared at what was ahead. It was a small collection of the colonists from his last mission. They all turned, laughing, facing him. The small bundle of colonists had aged and grown by a little more than twenty years since he had last seen them. He looked toward the commander with tears in his eyes then turned back toward the group and joined them.

"Doctor Yuma! Jami! Ekumi! Flabu-" he took off his glasses as the group gathered around him. "I thought you all died!"

"Well, we put ourselves into stasis after the technology came around," Yamu said.

"We entertained the possibility that you were lost out there beyond our reach," Ekumi said.

"So," Falbu said. "We drew straws to decide which of us would wait."

"There is ten of you," Rampo said. "I am . . . I am . . . heartbrokened and honored." he wiped off his glasses as bhe began to cry wiping off the steam from the lens.

"We can become acquainted to this era, old man." Jami patted on the captain's back.

"Yeah, together." agreed another.

"Can't do it alone," Yamu said. "Like a hug for old times sake from the colonists?"

"I love that!"

Then it became a well made group hug around Rampo who cried in joy. Gampu looked on with a light in his eyes that was well aged and softened, but pleased of how things had turned out, his hands linked behind his back. Tee Gar came closer to him holding a padd in front of himself.

"Commander, here is the medical report of the captain." Tee Gar said.

"This isn't why I asked you to come here." Gampu said.

"Then what it is about?" Tee Gar asked, briefly lowering his brows as his grin faded.

"This is what being a officer of space is all about," Gampu said as Tee Gar joined his side then motioned toward the crowd. "Watching scenes like _this_ happen."

Tee Gar grinned looking on.

"It never gets old watching this happen. He looks really happy." Tee Gar said. "I love watching happy endings." his attention shifted toward the commander. "However impossible they should be."

"That is what makes them so special," Gampu said.

"Defying the odds." Tee Gar said.

"So do I." Gampu turned away with envy in his voice and regret in his eyes then walked out of the doorway then Tee Gar followed him out. "So do I."

**The End. **


End file.
